Former Leicestershire chief fire officer Richard Chandler ran up more than £10,000 on business expenses including hotels, hospitality and travel using corporate credit cards at the time he planned to close stations and make firefighters redundant.

Mr Chandler left the job in May after a controversial tenure that lasted just over a year.

He departed from the £144,900-a-year post after his unpopular plans to cut the brigade budget by £1.5 million a year were scrapped.

However, it has emerged before he departed, with a pay-off understood to be about £84,000, fire authority chairman Nick Rushton commissioned an internal audit review of “brigade management’s compliance with appropriate conditions of service, policies and procedure”.

The outcome of the review was discussed in a private session of the fire authority but our sister paper the Leicester Mercury has now obtained a redacted copy of the auditors’ report under the Freedom of Information Act.

The auditors raised concerns about wasted money on hotel stays and unused train tickets and said Mr Chandler’s attendance levels were “significantly less” than senior colleagues.

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The auditors, from Leicestershire County Council, covered the three senior managers of the service between April 1 last year and March 31 this year. The others were then deputy chief Steve Lunn, who succeeded Mr Chandler, and assistant chief Andrew Brodie.

Auditors concluded Mr Chandler breached his contractual terms by not living in Leicestershire or Rutland.

He lived near Doncaster when he took the top job but told the service he had moved to Wymeswold in October last year. However, after that date, analysis of Mr Chandler’s train ticket receipts show seven journeys that started or ended in Doncaster or Retford.

Records also show after he registered his change of address to Wymeswold, Mr Chandler’s company Land Rover was serviced three times at a dealership in Doncaster.

All other fire service vehicles were fixed and serviced in house. Auditors estimated the work by the dealership, which cost £1,700 would have been nearly £800 cheaper in house.

Mr Chandler explained to auditors the car could not be worked on by the fire service workshop because it was under warranty but the workshop manager said that would not have prevented them doing the maintenance as long as they used official Land Rover parts.

They said Mr Chandler’s “high amount of mileage” most likely contributed to the “higher than usual” maintenance cost.

He registered 11,139 home to work miles compared with 3,528 for Mr Lunn and 5,167 for Mr Brodie.

The auditors also found Mr Chandler’s spending on the fire service credit cards was “significantly higher” than both his senior colleagues.

He ran up bills over the year of £10,565. In the same period Mr Lunn’s credit card spending was £264 and Mr Brodie’s £974.

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The report said Mr Chandler told auditors an assistant booked the first room “a distance away from the meeting venue” which would have made it hard to get there on time. He asked for the second room to be booked but the first could not be refunded.

Auditors used a Tube route planner to assess the journey times from the two hotels. The first journey would have taken 16 minutes, the second seven.

The report conclusions were redacted but in an unaltered copy obtained by the Mercury the auditors said the spending on a hotel room the night before was “questionable”.

The conclusions went on to say Mr Chandler breached his conditions of employment by not permanently living in Leicestershire or Rutland.

The report found he incurred waste on the unwanted hotel room as well as unused train tickets and that he travelled first class without appropriate approval.

Mr Chandler said his first class rail travel had been approved by the previous chairman of the fire authority.

Diaries of the three senior managers showed Mr Chandler’s presence at fire HQ or stations was “significantly less” than his colleagues.

Mr Chandler was at the office, stations, or working from home for 134 of the 252 working days – 53 per cent. He was otherwise on leave, ill, training, or in meetings and conferences.

By comparison Mr Lunn was present for 208 days (82 per cent) and Mr Brodie for 138 days of 68 per cent.

An attempt was made to contact Mr Chandler through the fire service and the Association of Chief Fire Officers, but has been unsuccessful.